Read More

Public sector workers had their pay frozen thanks to Tory austerity in 2010 and rises were then capped at 1% a year from 2012 to 2019/20.

A spokesman for public sector union PCS said: "Wage rises shouldn't just be for MPs. All workers deserve them.

"That's why we've repeatedly called for the public sector pay cap to end and for private firms to pay their staff a living wage."

Sir Alistair Graham, the ex-chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, told the Telegraph: "MPs are in what most people would see as a privileged position, whereas groups of workers are being told there could be bans on strikes without any formula in place as far as they are concerned.

"Policeman, fireman and other key emergency workers don't get the sort of arrangement that Members of Parliament have.

"I think they should be concerned abut the public perception that they are being looked after in a privileged way that others are not."